Today our society holds little value for prayer, and no value in attending church. Many times it looks like there is no need for God.
Jesus speaks to his disciples and to all of us in a parable. On first hearing this parable we might think that the punishment of the virgins who were excluded from the wedding feast was too big, too severe. However the gospel story is not about forgetting to bring along extra oil for a lamp, but about how we view the invitation, given to all of us, to take our place in the kingdom of God.
If we want to have an eternity of joy, we must to prepare for it with our whole our heart and mind. Jesus teaches this parable as a warning because the day the Lord will return is unknown and could be any minute.
As the year 2000 was coming, there was a lot of speculation about the end of the world. But we truly do not know when the second coming of Jesus will happen.
But let’s say that it will happen today. Are we ready for this event?
There are few things that are certain in our lives. One of them is that each one of us eventually will have to die. To dismiss the thought of death, pushing it to the back of our minds as something to be faced at a later date, is the type of foolishness Jesus condemns in this gospel.
If we live without thought as to where the journey of our spiritual life is taking us, we are not to making the preparations necessary for the coming of the kingdom. Death will catch us unaware, and we will face God. If we are found empty inside, with no oil in our spiritual lamps, the result will be very disappointing.
An essential part of the Christian life is to plant a personal relationship with God which one must posses, work and live, because it cannot be borrowed at the last minute.
The Church gives us directions on how to be prepared for the second Coming of Christ. Christ is always prepared to meet us, so we, for our part, must be prepared to meet him
The Gospel brings home the importance of being ready and prepared while we wait, by loving God – when we come to the Church to praise and worship him, when we study the sacred Scripture, and live God’s teachings with our neighbors and strangers.
By doing so we will be full, our lives and souls will be full like the lamps of the wise virgins. We will be ready for Jesus’ Second coming.
So, let’s take the teachings of God very seriously and put into practice in our daily life, that way we will not be left in the dark as those foolish virgins were. Amen.